Criminal Record Expungement in Arizona

Expungement can be technically defined in legal terms as a request or petition to a court or law enforcement agency for the erasure, cancellation, sealing, modification or destruction of a criminal record.

People may apply for expungement of certain criminal records when it starts to affect their image or reputation, such as when applying for work. However, under the Arizona law, this process cannot technically be utilized for an Arizona criminal record. An individual’s crime history remains untouched in the books until they reach 99 years of age.

Arizona does not have an expungement law. The substitute process for expungement for Arizona cases is having the case “set aside. ”However, a“set aside” does not make your record free of previous crimes committed.

Setting aside a felony or misdemeanor conviction in Arizona, however, means that your criminal records will still be viewable by anyone who plans to review it (e.g. a potential employer) but it will also be recorded that your case has been set aside or that all the conditions of your probation and sentence have been satisfied and cleared. A set aside confirms that a court has handled your case and has resolved to dismiss the charges against you.

A set aside has its own limits and is not applicable when the crime committed:

consists of some driving offenses

involved a finding of sexual motivation,

involves a victim below 15 years of age,

involves serious physical injury on the victim,

involves any dangerous instrument or deadly weapon, or

requires the defendant to be registered as a sex offender

Juvenile record clearing options are also available for cases in Arizona. Juvenile record sealing may apply if you are at least 18 years of age, without adult conviction or pending charges, and have completed all the terms and conditions of the sentence. This kind of sealing does destroy the records though it does not relieve you from its accompanying penalties.

Criminal reports can be set aside and juvenile records can be destroyed. It is best to hire a criminal Defense attorney in order to assist you in this process.